Adventures: InterVarsity Staff

Ginger has taken a campus ministry position with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA. This is the letter she's been sending. (If you haven't received one yet, don't be sad. I'm sending them slowly.) If we don't have your mailing address, we'd love to have it! Or, if you'd like to join the prayer list, sign up here. If you want to donate now, click here.

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to share with you an exciting decision I made this summer. When I was in college, I had specific map for the next few years of my life as I followed my plan to become a licensed architect. However, I began to wonder if I had a calling to campus ministry. Although I found the idea appealing, a three to five year commitment did not fit my schedule.

Then God set aside my schedule. He did not eliminate the passion and knowledge encouraged by my studies, but I no longer felt obligated to pursue architecture. God had been preparing me, giving me opportunity to use my writing and teaching skills during four years of leading dorm Bible studies and mentoring other leaders. I felt a clear line drawn between the ministry work I loved and excelled in, and the school work which was unfulfilling. But when I graduated, doubt held me back from entering full-time ministry. Since college, I have worked a variety of positions, and none were in architecture or leading into a career.

This summer, God gave me a second chance to pursue this dream. The campus ministry which had greatly impacted my life has appointed me as a university staff member. I had fears until the moment I said yes, and now I am joyful that God has set me in the right place.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) is an inter-denominational, evangelical campus mission serving more that 32,000 students and faculty in more than 550 campuses in the United States. I believe the university is the most strategic mission field in our country. For many young adults, their college years are a time when they pursue or abandon faith, and set the direction of their future.

The IVCF vision is “to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed.” I witnessed this during my time at Texas Tech, and I long to take part in it again. Many of my peers had transformative moments, whether accepting Jesus as Savior for their first time or moving beyond a childhood belief and choosing to center their lives on Him. I want to take what I learned about interacting with the campus to this new place, to share love and provoke curiosity about Jesus. Most of all, I am excited about training student leaders to be bold in faith and to use their gifts wherever they go in life.

This academic year, I will be based at Rhode Island College (RIC) in Providence. I have already met several members of the chapter. They are full of enthusiasm and love to interact with their campus through social justice events. I hope to encourage their excitement to connect with other students while centering on Jesus.

As a staff member for IVCF, part of my responsibility includes fundraising both my salary and ministry expenses. InterVarsity will provide me with extensive training, mentoring, and support. I hope you will be able to participate in this mission with me, financially and in prayer. Investing in students will multiply over and over. Matthew 6:20-21 advises: “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Please pray and consider how God could use you in campus missions.

Thank you for the support and encouragement you have already given me. I would not be ready to continue this ministry on my own.

Love in Christ,
Ginger

finding adventures everywhere

About Us
Stephen & Ginger Montalvo

Ginger's new ministry, and our continuing adventures in and around Newport RI

Info on InterVarsity ministry
How to donate
Subscribe to Prayer Letter


adventures Blog Entries

InterVarsity Staff 18 July 2011
Toah Nipi, Rindge NH 25 August 2011
Dallas + Austin TX 10 September 2011
NSO Providence RI September 2011
Fall in Newport RI September 2011
Kapalkas Visit 25 October 2011
InterVarsity Fall Retreat, NH 30 October 2011
New York City NY 26 November 2011
Newport RI + Baltimore MD 14 January 2012
Eleuthera, The Bahamas 4 February 2012
KRUP: New Orleans LA + MS 19 March 2012
Austin + Dallas TX Graduations 17 May 2012
Summit Toah Nipi NH 24 May 2012
Anniversary #3 VT May 2012
IVCF National Madison WI June 2012
Summer in Newport RI July 2012
Stephen's Job September 2012
New Student Outreach September 2012
New York NY October 2012
Toah Nipi NH 4 November 2012
Honey Visits November 2012
Billings + Lewistown + Denton MT 22 November 2012
Christmas Newport + Providence RI 25 December 2012
Urbana St. Louis MO 1 January 2013
Springfield MA + Storrs CT February 2013
McGowns Visit + Seals March 2013
Last Days March 2013
Finished Apartment March 2013


additional photos of our New England adventures available at my flickr site
SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

The Newport Blog: Kristian Visits

Kristian came to visit us in Newport after concluding her summer teaching job English camps in Italy. See her some of her photos at her facebook.

We visited the Elms, part of the Preservation Society of Newport Mansions.

Kristian and Ginger remembered some fun childhood games.

We picked raspberries at Sweetberry Farm.

Ginger's summer job is working with Majestic Cruise Company selling tickets for harbor cruises for tourists. Stephen and Kristian road the one-hour narrated cruise, then visited the Aquidneck Lobster Company nearby and saw a giant lobster!

We flew a kite at Brenton State Park. Stephen let it fly out all the way to the end of the string and had to chase it to the other shore when it escaped. 

On the Cliff Walk, we met Phoebe at Easton's beach near our old apartment and let the dogs play in the water. 

During this week, Ginger had an interview with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and accepted a staff worker position for this fall at Rhode Island College (RIC). Much more to come!

The Newport Blog: Montreal QB Canada

During the summer of 2007, Stephen and Ginger lived in Montreal with their architecture studio class. We have always wanted to return and re-visit our favorite places.

We rented a lovely condo for less than the cost of a hotel room downtown. It was in an old schoolhouse. Here's Stephen marking his map with a route for the day. 

During our first summer here, we all bought bikes for transportation and adventures. Now, Montreal has purchased a fantastic bike rental system called Bixi. For $5, we could rent a bike for 24 hours. Every few blocks, there was another bike rack (Stephen calls them bike vending machines.) They were heavy-duty bikes with a lower center of balance than usual, but comfortable. 

We visited several places that wouldn't be on the usual tourist list, but were very nostalgic for us. Below, Stephen's old apartment 

and Dollarama: the source of everything. (Stephen found the same yard decorations there he had used to mount his project.)

The pink tree forest and rainbow stairs of the Convention Center.

 

Eating a nutella sandwhich. (Ginger likes to pack meals so we eat out less.)

We unexpectedly found a protest. (Likely, Quebec Separationists)

We attended the International Fireworks Competition and saw the Czech Republic's entry. The fireworks come from Expo Island. We watched from a bridge closed to traffic for the night. We got there early to get a good seat. While we waited, we practiced French by playing an old car game- "I'm going on a trip and bringing..." "J'ally un voyague e importe un aprere foto, un bebe, l'cirque de solie, un depenaur, l'eau, un fromage... Stephen studied a little French in high school. Last time we were here, Ginger only learned the words for food.

We visited McGill University and found the classroom studio the university had lent us for that summer.

 

We rode the Metro subway system to Expo island, location of the 1967 World's Fair. Expo Island only had one Bixi bike rack, which caused some problems! The rack was full, and six others were waiting for someone to check out a bike so they could return theirs. We got tired of waiting and brought our bikes on the Metro with us to return them to a different rack. 

 

Every Sunday afternoon at a park near Mont Royal, there's an event called Tam-Tam, including drumming, dancing, tight-rope walkers, and fantasy-battlers.

Downtown, we saw the old Brewery. It's no longer abandoned, but is being reused as condos. Stephen also saw his old "site" for the architecture design he made in class. The building is gone.

On top of Mount Royal, we can see the whole city from the Bellevedere. Stephen went on a hunt to find his favorite shoes that are unavailable in the US.

More Montreal Photos